Introduction: The ancient broad river loop and the narrow river loop we are talking about now are two different things. The ancient river loop contained a very wide range, including north-central Shaanxi to the Yellow River: "The land can be two thousand miles, and the so-called hetao is also surrounded by three sides of the great river." "This part of the area is in the Hu and Han mixed residences, historically the Han Dynasty called the merger state, the Tang Dynasty belonged to Shuofang County. It has always been an excellent pasture with abundant water and grass and excellent riding. Liu Yuan, the founder of Hu Xia, Helian Bobo, the founder of Hu Xia, Li Jiqian, Li Deming, Li Yuanhao, and generation after generation of grassland tyrants rose from here to dominate the world. For the Central Plains Dynasty, Longyou was a strategic space to resist the northern nomads from moving south to the Central Plains, and was the northern barrier of the hinterland of the Central Plains (the ancient capital was usually in Chang'an Luoyang). The Qin, Han, Tang and other dynasties attached great importance to and firmly controlled the area, first, to expand the strategic depth of the hinterland of the Central Plains; second, to obtain excellent warhorses and raise troops. Therefore, the Hetao area was a place of contention for soldiers in the Central Plains and grasslands, and the Wei and Jin dynasties that lost the Hetao eventually became a scourge and were brought south by the Hu people.
The Hetao region is located in the northwest of the hinterland of the Central Plains, at the junction of traditional nomadic civilization and agricultural civilization. This place is suitable for farming and grazing, and the people here have both the strength of nomadic athletes and the diligence of the farming peoples. Moreover, the water and grass are abundant and can cultivate excellent war horses. Therefore, this place is born with the conditions for the formation of elite cavalry, so there are countless Hu tyrants in history who use this as a base to compete for world domination. The long-ago Western Zhou Inu Rong attacked the Capital, forcing the Zhou Dynasty to move east; the Xiongnu Liu Yuan then attacked the Western Jin Dynasty with this cavalry; Helian Bobo built the capital of Tongwan and was once in the north of the Northern Wei Dynasty; and the three generations of the party's Dingnan army Li Jiqian's ancestors and grandsons hatched the Western Xia that confronted the Liao and Song Dynasties, and the state remained for two hundred years.
Inuyasha, Xiongnu Liu Yuan, Dang Xiang, etc. used this as a base to chase deer from the Central Plains
During the reign of King You of Zhou in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the government was corrupt and natural disasters were frequent. The King of Zhou You, on the other hand, did not care about this, but instead accepted him as the prince of houfeng. This directly led to the separation of the princes and the departure of the people from morality. After the Yuan Crown Prince Yi usu was deposed, he fled to the Shen kingdom, and Shen Hou colluded with Inu rong to attack the pickaxe capital and kill King You of Zhou. Western Zhou fell, and Yi usu moved east to Luoyang to claim the title of King of Zhouping. The territory occupied by Inuyasha is the broad Hetao area.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu split into the Southern and Northern Xiongnu, and the Southern Xiongnu made a request to the Eastern Han Dynasty to be annexed. The Han Dynasty placed them in the southern part of the river (Yellow River), which is rich in water and grass, that is, in the Hetao area. From the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, this rich region has always been inhabited by Hu and Han, becoming a powder keg that threatens the Central Plains. In the last year of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Xiongnu Liu Yuan claimed to be a descendant of the Han Dynasty and rebelled against the Jin. Liu Yuan's army soon captured Luoyang and captured emperor of the Jin dynasty, the Western Jin Dynasty.
Dang Xiang was originally a nomadic herder on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, barely surviving in the cracks between Tubo and Tuguhun. Due to the strong threat of Tubo, he is on the verge of life and death. At this time, Datang allowed Dangxiang to settle and reproduce in the Hetao area with an open mind, and Dangxiang people helped the elderly and children to travel long distances to the spiritual homeland - the rich Hetao area. The land here is fertile and watery, and it is suitable for farming and grazing, which is especially suitable for party members who are accustomed to nomadic herding. The party members actively absorbed the Chinese civilization, and the party items that were blessed by the Tang Dynasty gradually became stronger.
In the turbulent era of the Tang Dynasty, the Dang Xiang people, under the leadership of the patriarch, responded to the Tang Dynasty's call to pacify the Huangchao rebels. Many party fighters died on the battlefield, including the brother of the patriarch. Therefore, the leader of the party was given the title of Envoy of the Difficult Army and given the surname of Li to the Tang Dynasty. After five generations of unification of the Northern Song Dynasty, Dang xiang did not want to merge into the Great Song Dynasty, and then began his own process of conquest and statehood under the leadership of Li Jiqian. From Li Jiqian to Li Deming and Li Yuanhao's three generations of grandchildren, he finally relied on Hetao to establish the Western Xia, which dominated the northwest for 200 years.
Hetao was of great significance to the Central Plains Dynasty
From the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the dynasty of Guanzhong, which established the capital, was always under the threat of the Hu people in Hetao, and the Zhou Youwang period finally led to a tragedy and was attacked by Inu rong to break the pickaxe capital. Then, during the Warring States period, the State of Zhao established Yunzhong Commandery and the Qin State destroyed the Yiqu Canal and gradually encroached on the Hetao area. After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, on the basis of the seven hundred miles of the Xiongnu in the north of Mengtian, the Hetao was completely incorporated into the territory of the Central Plains Dynasty.
The ancient unification dynasty liked to build the capital of the Guanzhong region before the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the hetao area in a broad sense has become the gateway of the capital city or the hinterland of the Central Plains, and once the steppe peoples break through the Hetao, they will be flat. In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Jieli Khan led the Turks all the way south, forcing Li Shimin to sign the Weishui Alliance. Therefore, after the Qin Dynasty occupied Hetao, not only garrisoned troops, but also immigrated to officially set up the two counties of Yunzhong and Jiuyuan. The Western Han Dynasty set up Shuofang, Wuyuan, Xihe, Dingxiang and other counties, all of which were cast in the city to divert water to Tuntian. Therefore, in a broad sense, the role of the Loop not only assumes the role of expanding the strategic depth of the hinterland of the Central Plains, but also plays an important role as a barrier to the hinterland of the Central Plains.
brief summary:
In summary, the Hetao area is a very good source of good horse riding. Coupled with the key geographical location of Hetao, it became the focus of repeated fierce competition between the various tribes in the north and the Central Plains Dynasty.
I am the emperor of history, welcome your attention; if there is a flaw, the axe is right.